Paleo Chicken Pot Pie

I love chicken pot pie. My best friend recently suggested that I come up with a paleo version. I accepted the challenge and got busy baking!

Honestly, I’d never had homemade chicken pot pie. I’ve had the frozen variety a couple of times (to my mother’s horror) and order it in restaurants when I want a warm, cozy, American classic.

I know I’m preaching to the choir when I say that the crust is the best part of a chicken pot pie. With my incredibly high standards for a flaky, savory, take you back to childhood crust, I started my paleo conversion. The experiments were a success. This recipe is DEAD ON.

I adore Ina Garten and used her pot pie recipe as a rough go by. Like the classic recipe, hers calls for green peas. The paleo friendliness of green peas is arguable. I left them in because to me, it’s not pot pie without green peas. Feel free to substitute with broccoli if you want another option.

In addition to these little pies being simple and delicious, they also make for surprisingly easy cleanup. The baked-on bits that unavoidably spill over wash off with ease – another testament to why cooking with almond meal is a great idea.

The instructions may look long, but it’s a simple process. Don’t be intimidated and jump in. Be sure you let the pot pies cool after baking; just like their non-paleo cousins, these little guys come out boiling lava hot.

No worries! I made it and it turned out great! I am NOT the cook of the family and even I was able to handle this recipe and kind of enjoyed myself doing it! My husband was sick and craving some comfort food. This was the perfect answer and we even fought over who got the leftovers! I’ve bookmarked your page to check out some other recipes! Thanks!

Great question, Shelly! Green peas are pretty low in phytic acid and lectins (the properties of legumes that bump them from the paleo-friendly food list). That being said, you can absolutely substitute with broccoli. It is just as tasty. I recommend you check out this article ( http://www.paleoplan.com/2012/08-14/are-green-beans-and-snow-peas-paleo/ ) for more info on paleo-friendly legumes. Hope that helps!

I tried it with a larger dish, and had a hard time getting the crust to stick together Overall, great taste. Will try this with the Ramekins. Did you notice that the crust that touched the veggie/wet mixture was mealy? It didnt seem like the almond meal really cooked through there.

Hi Ashley! Thanks for your note. I think it’s more difficult to keep the broth from lapping on the crust in a larger dish. Too much moisture directly on the crust can keep it from forming a crisp. One possible work-around is to make sure the chicken and veggies stick up above the broth high enough for the crust to lay on. Hopefully that helps and I so glad you liked the taste!

What kind of almond meal do you use? I used the one trader joes carries and it was much darker in color than your photos. Also it seemed pretty mealy. Not a smooth doughy texture. Any suggestions? Other thank that great recipe! Very tasty!

Hi Jenna! When I’m making cookies or crusts (like this one) I typically opt for Bob’s Red Mill Almond Flour. It’s almost triple the price of Trader Joes, but is much more refined. I completely think it’s worth keeping some on hand. I use the Trader Joes almond meal for thickening soups and making grainier baked goods – like homemade larabars. Hope this helps! So glad you thought it was tasty!

So I made this last night in a glass 8×8 dish because I don’t have the mini bowls. When I scooped a piece out, the entire bottom of the dish was oil. Did anyone else encounter this? It was pretty disgusting… I really didn’t want to eat it. I followed the directions exactly – even left it in for 1hr15min.

Hi Scout! I’m sorry to hear about the dish not working out. Because I’m not in the kitchen with you to observe the process, it’s difficult for me to know exactly where it went wrong. This recipe does not contain an excessive amount of fat so I’m confused about the oily texture you found at the bottom of the dish. I know that more people have had greater success with a crisp crust in the smaller ramekins – if you ever get your hands on one. I’ve got this recipe queued for one of my first video cooking demonstrations – I hope it will help clear up the process. Thanks for your feedback and I hope it works out better for you next time!

Hi there! So I made this tonight, and the filling was great until I put it into the oven! The almond flour made it really grainy and I couldn’t get through a serving. Do you think arrowroot powder would be a good substitute?

Hi Adriana! Arrowroot powder might be a good substitute. I haven’t experimented with it yet but it’s a definite possibility. I’m sorry yours turned out grainy. I’ve found that if you put less broth in each ramekin, the crust will crisp and not melt into the filling. Thanks for the feedback. I’ll experiment with arrowroot the next time I make this and report back 🙂

Hi,
I made this a couple of nights ago and it was fantastic! It tasted exactly like chicken pot pie!! I used arrowroot powder instead of almond flour in the filling, no grainy texture. I did not make the crust though so I can’t comment on it.

Hi Leanne! I haven’t tried freezing it yet so I can’t say for sure, but I would recommend freezing the crust separate from the rest of the filling. Spoon out or cut off the portion you need as you go. Hope this helps! If I freeze it, I promise to come back and report 🙂

Oh my! I made this last night and it was ahhhmazing!!! I’ve been craving chicken pot pies for a while and figured I’d look for a paleo version, this hit the spot for sure! My husband was even impressed 🙂 way to go! And thank you!!

It’s definitely possible but I haven’t tried it myself. Coconut flour is a lot more absorbent than almond meal so the liquid to dry ratio will be much different. If you experiment and find success, I’d love to know!

Hi Karen! Good challenge. I haven’t tried a nut-free chicken pot pie yet but I have it written in my development book. You could experiment with coconut flour – just know that the dry-wet ingredient amounts will vary because coconut flour is extremely absorbent.

I never knew there were so many “not salad and meat” paleo recipes.. to be honest i hate most veggies (this is something i am breaking in my self.. sadly i think brussel sprouts will never make the menu though!) It is friday and this is going on my list of things im making this weekend!

I found your recipe earlier this week and I have been waiting for Saturday to come so I could make it. Even though it took a bit of time to prepare and bake, man, it was SO worth it! I served it with a side of cauliflower and it was just superb. The crust was a bit of hard work and I didn’t get it as nice as yours but it still tasted great.

I made 4 individual ones and one large one. For the large one I cut the crust into strips to make it easier to lay over the pie and that worked out really well.

I didn’t use peas but I did put in green beans and that worked really nice too.

Thank you so much for this Cassandra, it really hit the spot. The recipe was easy to follow and I didn’t need to make any adjustments, it just worked! This is great comfort food and I know I’ll be making this a lot when winter comes around. Or maybe like every week? Haha.

I made this tonight for Sunday dinner and my husband said it was the best thing he has ever eaten – and we eat very well. great recipe and thanks! I could only eat half- it was so filling! I used TJs almond meal and it was no problem. I liked the texture actually! I used zucchini diced instead of peas to keep carbs lower. I also used pretty large ramekins as it was the only offering at dinner- no sides or salad. so the yield was about 5 instead of 8.
thanks again!

I made this tonight and unfortunately it was a complete fail… Although the flavor was amazing… So maybe not COMPLETE. I tried making the crust dough twice without luck. After refrigerating at least 30 minutes, the dough completely fell apart when trying to roll it. I tried again without luck, this time letting it cool and set up or whatever even longer. I ended up just using a normal pie crust and dealing with the gluten; however, are we sure the four cups of chicken stock is right? Mine ended up completely soupy inside the tasty (but not paleo) crust. Like we are talking chicken soup runny -not like chicken pot pie type creamy. I’m guessing its cause of the four cups of broth among other things. The flavor was wonderful however so I won’t complain about that at all!

Hi Lauren! I haven’t made it with coconut flour, so I can’t say for sure. I definitely recommend you experiment (you’ll need to use less flour and more liquid in the crust) and come back to let us know!

Lauren, I have substituted chestnut and hazelnut flours for almond flour when I bake something for my mom and have had good results. She is also allergic to almonds. Hazelnut has a stronger flavor so I would stick with the Chestnut flour with this recipe.

So I just thought I’d chime in with my experience. I’m vegetarian, but I’m gluten free as well. And thus many paleo recipes are of interest to me. I changed out the chicken for Beyond Meat, which is soy based and thus not paleo. And didn’t use the egg wash.

I had an issue with my crust cracking really bad, and it wouldn’t make it from the cutting board to the ramekin without the help of plastic wrap. But once baked it was amazing, even without the egg wash.

Reblogged this on Yoga4friends and commented:
We are in a paleo dinner mood in my house. Here is another one that neice Nicole plans to make–soon, I hope. I modified this recipe. Use fresh carrots. I dry and use the meal left over from making almond milk..after all, the almond meal is only here as a vehicle for oil and water to form into dough. You could also use rice flour, garbanzo meal, or Pamela’s gluten free flour. I love the pictures.

I made these tonight for dinner and OMG! SO delicious! Comforting, filling, tasty, easy, this is definitely going into my rotation for dinners. My un-Paleo husband gobbled up two! I followed the recipe exactly, and it was perfect! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! A+++++!

I have got to say, that was amazing! My Hubby and little Girl loved it. I rolled the dough out very thin between two parchment papers and baked in a pie dish. Crust was flakey, which we really enjoyed. Thank you for sharing!